Weekend Review: Sister Bonding Time!

It's almost November which means holy #@^%# I'll be moving into the house with the hubs in just four weeks! It sounds like a long time, but we're in the homestretch and we're making a list a mile long of what needs to be done right away/the week we move in. Since the house was a foreclosure, we need ALL of the kitchen appliances. That means we need to go shopping, something I have zero experience in doing. Sorry if you missed the sarcasm that sentenced was heavily laced with. Since it's just about the holiday season, I'm betting on snagging some amazing deals.

What I DID do this weekend was go shopping for Christmas decorations. YEAH YEAH I DID IT. Strike me down! BUT since I'm a fan of all things glittery and shiny AND the fact that this will be our first Christmas in our first home, I'm goin' all out! Pier 1 Imports is my #1 place to go for Christmas decorations. I found the most beautiful ornaments and table pieces.

AND because I'm obsessed with penguins, these happened. Don't you dare judge. I mean come on, what's better than a penguin on a cupcake?

After going to Pier 1, my sister and I finally saw Gone Girl. Now I was DYING to see the movie since it was said that the author rewrote the ending...leading EVERYONE to believe that it was different from the book (which thank God) but....SPOILER ALERT....



NOPE. It was the effing same. And really, if you read this without the spoiler alert, be happy you did. I swear, it was like getting back together with an ex hoping for different results, when NOPE it still sucked something awful and you felt all empty inside. Okay I'm being dramatic...but really. However, the movie and casting was amazing. The author should always write the screenplay for movie adaptations. If they don't something like The Great Gatsby might happen again. This was my hot date for the night....because I'm a five-year-old at heart...or when I'm drunk.

My sister and sucked down some wine and martinis after the movie knowing full well that I had a long distance run ahead of me in the morning. But really, how can I turn down a pumpkin spice martini? It was like basic bitching 2.0.

 

Despite my thirst for pumpkin spice martinis, I was up bright and early for my 10-mile run in the morning...grumble. Thank the lord for Beyonce and Iggy Azalea for helping me pull through. Yeesh. I must say though that this weather Chicagoland is experiencing is AMAZING and it needs to hold out for a couple more weeks until my 15k...just sayin'.

This weekend I have my Panting for Paws race that benefits all of the furry little buddies out there that need a forever home. It's one of my fav races because well...nothing is better than running for furbaby funds right?! Speaking of which, unbeknownst to me, Apollo has his own clothing line...I found this out when I came across this sweater. Naturally, I bought it. He's aiming to be the next Karl Lagerfeld....

 And amidst all of my house moving craziness, my bff also moved into her new condo! We celebrated with margaritas the size of our faces. Cheers!!

And as this week progresses, I'll just be sitting at my desk planning for the move...because is it November 25th yet?!?! And yes, I have a countdown on my phone....

Love, Laughter & Wine

 Friday night was the start to the weekend and I couldn't have been more exhausted and stressed. So what does my future hubs do? He makes me an ice cream sandwich cake and gets Frozen for us to watch. Yes, this man opted to watch a Disney movie with me AND made me a cake. Best future hubs EVER.

Although my weekends are jam packed with wedding events and planning, I'm loving it. ESPECIALLY when I get to see all of my favorite people in one day. Saturday was my second bridal shower that two of my aunts hosted for me at an amazing French restaurant, L'Eiffel Bistrot & Creperie. All of my bridesmaids were there and while I wanted to just talk to everyone, I HAD to rush on over to my family who traveled from Minnesota. I rarely get to see them so it was basically like Christmas all over again. Crap, if it snows again don't blame me for saying that...

I had way too much wine (of course) and the food was to die for. I'm a salmon snob.

After the food, we ordered dessert...nothing could have prepared me for it either. I wish I could have grown a second stomach for it...I could only eat a third of it! Helloooo long distance run tomorrow.

 Wine AND this dessert...I didn't even know what to do with myself. It's times like these where you just forget about logging anything into MyFitnessPal.

 

 During lunch and dessert, there were a couple of games, one of which I definitely got a kick out of. Out of a whole list of Facebook statuses, everyone had to guess which status was posted by me or Josh. 

After dessert and chatting with my favorites, it was gift time. I must say, everyone outdid themselves. I am so blessed to have the most thoughtful friends and family. One of my bridesmaids painted this for me! Stunned.

 

Once again, everyone insisted on playing the ribbon game and counted how many I broke...luckily there was only one that I couldn't untie and had to cut....dang it!! You can see how excited I am about this whole situation. 

Bags are good...that means, no ribbons. I swear, my fam and friends want Josh and me to be the next Duggar family.

Oh and might I add that Josh and I are now stockholders in Starbucks and BP now? Josh might be screwed with his stocks in BP since they're spilling oil all over the damn place, but Starbucks?! Hellloooo retirement! Go ahead entire high school population, get your matching Starbucks fraps! I'll no longer eye-roll at you. You're helping a girl out.

After all of the gifts were unwrapped and set aside, I could hug and thank the hell out of everyone. I love my bridesmaids more than anything and this is actually the first time they could all get together at once! #bigbridalpartyproblems.

The best thing about all of these ladies is that they are all unique and awesome in their own way. I met each one at a special time in my life and I can't wait until I say "I do" with them beside me! I can never get enough time with my family from out-of-town too.

My cousin also had these amazing shirts made. If you don't already know, I'm obsessed with pandas (who isn't?) Team Emily for the win.

The back of each shirt is unique too with their role in the wedding and relation to me. I'm in love with these shirts and I'll be wearing it for the next 32 days. It goes well with a blazer right?...Yes, that's what I thought. Totally will.

After the bridal shower epicness, I went over to my Aunt's place where we had quality family time. Oh man it doesn't get any better than this. We celebrated my aunt's and my grandmother's birthday as well which meant more cake...and spiced rum on the side. Damnit, let's add on another mile to that run in the morning.

Team Emily- with some missing of course.

 After I said goodbye to my Minne-SO-ta fam, I headed home, unloaded everything and hit that pillow so hard. On Sunday, I definitely kept my promise to myself and hit that pavement hard early in the morning. It was glorious. The sun was shining, it was warm and holy shit...it felt like SPRING. After my run, I worked my behind off until it was time to meet Josh and his fam to celebrate his mom's birthday at Kyoto...one of the best Japanese restaurants EVER. It's the type of place where they cook right in front of you and try to flip things into your mouth...in which the food always just ends up hitting me in the face....After that seven-mile run earlier, my body was screaming for protein. Hellloooo shrimp dinner.

 

Josh's parents are also wine aficionados, so we shared a bottle of "Kung Fu Girl" wine...it's a type of Riesling and I just had to try it. Definitely a fan.

It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend. 32 days until this guy is stuck with me forever!

 

Also, the Mindy Project comes back on this week...and I feel like it's the most underrated show EVER. Does anyone else watch it??? I'm obsessed and can't wait to see it!!!

 

The Epic Birthday

This year, my birthday was nothing short of epic amazingness. Let's start with the fact that my birthday landed on a fricken Saturday this year. This never happens. I actually got to enjoy and spend my day however the hell I wanted. Although birthday happenings started with the bestie on Friday night. I've missed her terribly since she was on a medical mission in the Philippines as part of her nursing school program. (Yes she's kind of a big deal and I admire her so much for going through SO much while she was there). I was in awe hearing about all of the people she helped and the stories. Also, the second I walked in the door, I was greeted with a birthday card and a heart-shaped brownie. I was already in heaven and I figured that was more than enough. I was so happy to see her back....and then...she whipped out my birthday gift. One word....BURBERRY. I gasped, I screamed...I may have even peed in my pants a little.

 So let's recap. I got chocolate and a Burberry handbag and clutch. Apparently I won an express ticket to birthday heaven. I was speechless and that never happens. What can I say? This girl loves her labels. She also brought back a couple of souvenirs from the Philippines including two seashell bracelets from this village she visited.We caught up for hours and laughed ourselves to tears as usual.

I went to bed ready to wake up in amazing spirits. I got up bright and early to hit the gym. I like to start my days kicking ass. As a birthday present, my gym let me pick out new boxing wraps and at the end of the workout, the trainer had us all do leg lifts and spell out each letter in "happy birthday Emily" in my honor. I felt so special and the class hated me haha...oooh I can still feel the burn in my abs...

After a great workout, I showered up and met up with my older sis at Starbucks where she greeted me with my signature drink and more gifts. I am loved. Seriously, I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing people in my life. She got me the biggest, most amazing mug ever. I was born in the year of the dragon and I just loved everything about this gift. My sis also spoiled me with a Snoopy sweater (I'm obsessed with Peanuts) and a lefty-friendly calendar (fricken hilarious). I'm telling you, the important people in my life have my personality and likes nailed.

At this point, I'm happier than Kim Kardashian after she peed on a stick and found out that she locked in Kanye for 18 years. I mean come on, I couldn't ask for more. What's next? Is Justin Timberlake going to pop out of a birthday cake in a tie? He can forget the suit. Okay maybe that's a stretch. After we had some quality sister time and sucked down our lattes, we departed so I could pick up my lovely Josh and head out to Mago for my birthday dinner. This place is my absolute favorite. Mago has THE BEST margaritas and what is a birthday without margaritas? Now I had everything. My family and awesome food.

After we stuffed our faces with amazing food and a couple of margaritas later, I was surrounded by the good people of Mago and was crowned with a sombrero as they sang happy birthday to me. Floored.

It's official, this has been the best birthday ever. The sombrero topped it off. Not going to lie, I rock the hell out of that thing too. My parents were beyond generous with their gifts as well. My favorite was the beautiful, Swarovski charm bracelet...and what? What is this??? A fricken PANDA charm to go with it??? This is all too much guys, really. For those of you who don't know, I'm obsessed with pandas. They're the shit. They're the cutest creatures on this earth. I DID have a red panda on my birthday wish list, but since it would most likely upset Apollo and Luigi....this is the next best thing. ;-)

I really don't know what I'd do without my family and friends. They complete my epic birthday. Josh also surprised me with a weekend getaway that will happen in mid-April which is PERFECT since I will most likely be ripping my hair out with final wedding details by then and will need a nice break. How perfect is he? Pretty perfect.

After indulging in some dessert, we headed home in yet another snowstorm. (I don't believe I ordered snow for my birthday.) When I got home I was finally starting to wind down from this fabulous day and watched other 20-somethings in the Olympics win medals in their sport...and there I was...just stuffing my face some more with a birthday cupcake. Can that be an Olympic sport? It should be.

Cheers all!

Fall Into Insanity

So now that I've blown off blogging since late July, it is now my favorite time of the year...FALL. No, it's not just the pumpkin everythingness (pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin patches the Great Pumpkin etc.) it is the weather, layered clothing, the beautiful trees around my house changing colors and it also means that the holidays are just around the corner. Oh and that my wedding is now seven months away instead of two years from now. Since my engagement, I know of four other people who got engaged and married so it's safe to say that I'm ready to fricken get hitched already! Of course having said that, I feel like my world is upside down as I go through all of these major life changes all at once.

They say that the three most stressful things you can experience in your life include moving, changing jobs and your relationship status. I am now experiencing ALL of those things at once since Josh and I need to look for a house, we're planning our wedding and he's now in the middle of gaining a great opportunity for himself regarding his career path. I'm surprised I'm not on a million anxiety meds right now to calm me down. I mean really, this is a lot for one person to handle and sometimes I'm on the brink of a psychotic break.

Right now it feels like my life is at a point where everything is in limbo, but I do like to think I have my shit together to a certain degree. I mean, I've gotten through months of serious wedding planning and haven't severely injured my mother yet so that's got to count for something. I am also reminded that dealing with one like mine should be considered an Olympic sport (it really should). Move the hell over Michael Phelps, I have 25 gold medals that should be coming my way.

I am also reminded that I really should be grateful for where I'm at with my career right now and mind you, I am. Things can get pretty crazy, but I can honestly say that I LOVE what I do for a living and that's the best feeling. Succeeding in my career is one of the most important factors in my life and having done that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I frequently reward myself with pumpkin spice lattes (very dangerous when my wedding dress should be ready for alterations soon). Crap.

Since my blogging hiatus, I've finished some more races including the Chicago Women Rock 5k, 10k and Half Marathon. I ran the 10k course with some friends and my mom and Josh's mom walked the 5k. I was SO proud of them considering my mom is approaching the big 6-0 this week. To motivate everyone toward the finish line, they had a bunch of hard bodies handing us our medals.

 The race benefited charities dedicated to women and this was by far one of the most fun races I've done. You even got to celebrate with champagne afterward. Because everyone feels like consuming alcohol after a race right? Well yes, that's what I did. Two glasses. Like a boss.

 

 My mom thought she couldn't do it and was starting to make excuses to get out of it, BUT she rocked it just like I knew she would. Now I have my Perfect 10 race at Navy Pier to look forward to in November. This one is especially very dear to my heart since it benefits cancer research.

 

One of the best things about fall is that it provides perfect weather to run in and it makes me feel better about my pumpkin spice latte consumption. Until next time...

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Christmas is practically already here even though it's technically still one day away. Christmas is really a whole week of celebrations and parties....which is just how I like it. Christmas is my favorite holiday ever so one day of celebrating it just doesn't cut it. Saturday night Josh and I had a little mini getaway at a chic spa hotel in the heart of downtown where we had quality "us" time. Since we're still saving up and living at home, moments like these are few and far between....and I enjoyed every single second! Josh booked a room for us and ummm apparently they were aware of our motive of having quality time together...as we were quick to find out that there was only a glass wall separating the shower from the main room! We definitely got a kick out of this honeymoon-type suite. We were on the 22nd floor so we had quite a view from our room!

Once we got settled, we got ready to go to dinner. Josh made reservations for us at the Argent Restaurant. Mind you, Josh is not a raw food/sushi person....yet he knows that I am a sushi-loving fiend so he booked this place. One of the many reasons why I love this man. They had a burger for him on the menu so he was all set. We started off with delicious salads for appetizers followed by our main course. I had the salmon citrus roll and a California roll- holding the avocado of course.

The second I took the first bite...I was in heaven. I also had a glass of this one particular German Riesling that I've never had before. It was absolutely delicious. So lets backtrack. I'm with my one and only...eating top-notch sushi....with Riesling in hand...yep...heaven.

After we stuffed our faces with food, we made our way upstairs to the Vertigo Lounge which is an enclosed rooftop bar on top of the hotel. Josh got us a bottle of Riesling and we chatted over a few glasses of wine until we made our way back to the room.

The following day we decided that room service was ridiculously too pricey so we walked a block down the road to my favorite...STARBUCKS. Now, of course I love Josh so much but he never has Starbucks and when he was ordering a drink...the barista looked at him like he was from another planet when he asked for a MEDIUM chocolate milk or orange juice. Poor kid isn't savvy on all of their odd lingo. He went with a hot chocolate.

Once we had breakfast and relaxed for a little while, we hopped into a taxi to make our way home just in time for the Bears game....and to ultimately see them slaughter the Cardinals. WOOT. Amazing Christmas gift #1. The first of many Christmas parties was later that night with my immediate fam. My mom made a feast with ham, green bean casserole, rolls and mashed potatoes. After that all of us gathered around the tree and handed out all of our gifts to each other.

My favorite part is judging how I did on picking out gifts by seeing each person's reaction as they open them. I just so happened to get my sister's classic "excited" reaction as she opened her first gift from me,  a white sweater dress she's been wanting for quite some time. Win!

Josh also loved his SteelSeries keyboard, Magic cards, Bears touch screen gloves and AE top.

My parents also enjoyed their gifts which is a major win since it's always rough buying for my dad, especially. You can't go wrong with the whole James Bond Blu-Ray collection with special features. As for me, I was one lucky lady last night as well. Josh got  me this gorgeous Rebecca Minkoff crossbody handbag that is what I like to call "rocker chic" with its spiked studs embroidering the bottom of it. It's a beautiful, light pink with a gold chained strap and zipper enclosure. Absolutely IN LOVE.

My parents also got me an abalone shell necklace and matching earrings. They are absolutely beautiful as well. My absolute favorite gift from them though are my Bose SIE2 sport headphones that are specially engineered for exercise/running. They are seriously the most amazing things ever. They feel secure in your ear, yet you barely feel them and the sound quality is unprecedented of course....Bose.

While I went for my first run in weeks since my toe injury AND after getting sick I was finally able to get outside and try these babies out. The only thing that left me disappointed was my damn knee injury that sprung up again since I ran the half marathon. It didn't help that it was below freezing out. Once I get a brace I should be fine but until then...another five-mile morning run will NOT be in my future. I had to hobble home near the end since I just couldn't even jog through the pain. Although, my headphones did not let me down. They stayed in my ears without even budging, sweat resistant and it sounded as though Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey were there running alongside me and singing their tunes.

Now something I need to rant about is the Abercrombie & Fitch sizing scale. I am a small/medium in any other brand...yet apparently a medium sherpa-lined sweater from Abercrombie really means an extra small...it seriously looked like something for a toddler. I was so disappointed since my sister really wanted to get this sweater for me and she felt sad that I looked like I was trying on my little cousin's jacket...it was ridiculous. Abercrombie needs to adjust their sizing scale...to ummm normal sizes? We re-ordered another sweater that I absolutely love from there and hopefully sizing up works...I know I have a long torso...but a medium looked like a fucking cropped jacket on me. Get it together, Abercrombie.

My sister also got me a Burberry phone cover that is amazingly cute along with the comfiest set of yoga pants EVER. My bro-in-law generously gave me a Starbucks gift card and a penguin hot/cold beverage cup and an insulated wine holder! Both of them know me so well. ;)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!